Question: Subscription Key Formatting

[lmodern1878]

Hi:

I just received the update notification email and as I do with all updates I promptly downloaded all files (my licensed product, the CHMM manual, the PDF manual, the examples, and learning SetupBuilder) and created my famous "SERIAL.TXT" file for inclusion with the files. The reason I backup every single version from 7.6 to current is the "just in case...." mentality, goodness forbid I need to rollback to some earlier version because I'm unsatisfied with the latest build.

My "SERIAL.TXT" Looks like this (demonstration values from a "dummy" project used to ensure confidentiality of the actual license information)


LinderSoft SetupBuilder Developer X Build Y:
S/N: 36006-389-3735287-70079
M/P: 506561374A4939526D4B39786C6E41437679596852496C5275 566853794967305663443261677973456E56374857595A6F74 7253326455356A62376C4F513D3D


When I paste the maintenance key (represented by "M/P:") into the file it is usually broken into two lines like the following using the example maintenance key:


M/P: 506561374A4939526D4B39786C6E41437679596852496C5275 566853794967305663443261677973456E56374857595A6F74
7253326455356A62376C4F513D3D

Even with "word wrap" turned off, this is the case and I need to manually delete the line break. Why does this matter? you might be asking yourself, the answer is simple, if I'm re-installing double-clicking on a single line to select it for copy/paste into the installer is easier than selecting a single line and having to "Shift+down-arrow" select the rest of the value. The question is why on earth is there a CR/LF (line-break) in the maintenance key in the first place? from my observations, that line break in unnecessary and does not matter to the installer if it is there or not. This has been the bane of my copy/paste scheme for years.

Speaking of SERIAL.TXT files, I have a suggestion, enable the option to read from a so-called "answer file" like "REGINFO.TXT" in the same directory as the setup thus pre-filling the serial number and maintenance ID fields, if run with the /s option from command line, it's set and doesn't need any user interaction and ready to go; if run interactively the values are filled in and can just be looked over or changed if needed but most circumstances the end-user can choose "next". hopefully this makes some degree of snese. if you annot enable this for the official setupbuilder installer, can it be done from my installers?

[linder]

Hello,

Thanks for your message and your suggestion!

The maintenance key method in SetupBuilder did not change in all the years (first introduced eleven years ago in August 2005). The maintenance key length is always 120 characters. When we sent out notifications, our system "splits" the key into two lines (1st line is 76 characters and the 2nd line is 44 characters).

I can copy and paste these two lines without any problem into the maintenance key window and it is accepted. Perhaps your email reader adds a "hidden" character to the end of line #1 and this makes the key invalid? To test this, could you please copy the maintenance key from your original SetupBuilder update notification into an ASCII text file (please do not modify the contents) and send it to support [at] lindersoft [dot] com? Thank you!

Quite a few SetupBuilder developers are already using the "answer file" method in their installations (can be done with three or four lines of script code) to pre-fill (autofill) the serial number and maintenance information. We'll add it to our own install image in the next build. Thanks for the reminder.

Friedrich

[lmodern1878]

Thanks for that:

I'll do this shortly! How do you implement the answer file?

Thanks for your help.

[linder]

You have several different options. I'll develop a quick "answer file" demo and upload it here...

Friedrich

[linder]

I have developed a simple demo.

http://www.lindersoft.com/projects/AnswerFileDemo1.zip

It tries to detect the answer file ANSWER.TXT file in the folder where the setup.exe actually lives (just compile the project and copy the ANSWER.TXT file into your .exe folder). If it is there, it reads the "default" values from the file. You can then use the values in your script.

In my example, it fills the Serial Number in the "User Info" dialog.

You can fine tune the project. For example, add a button and let the user locate & select his own answer file, or add a command line switch to define the answer file through the command line, etc.

Does this help?

Friedrich

[lmodern1878]

Thanks Again Linder!

I'll look over this a bit later this week, I've got some medical issues that need tending to later today and some other projects that are on the front burner right now. This might have saved my bacon :-)